Cops in Overton, Texas, shut down two little girls’ lemonade stand because they didn’t have the proper permit.
According to KTRK TV, the kids were trying to earn money for so they could buy their dad a Father’s Day present. The girls’ mom summed the whole thing up perfectly.
I think that’s ridiculous.”
Anybody with a shr
ed of common sense recognizes that. Shutting down a lemonade stand run by a 7 and 8-year-old girl is asinine.
But I know some people will actually defend the police. Let me just say that if you count among those people, you’re part of the problem.
I found the Overton Police Chief Clyde Carter’s response to the controversy very telling.
We have to follow by the state health guidelines. They have to have a permit if they’re going to do the lemonade stands.”
Notice where the police department’s loyalty lies.
Not with the people.
Not with justice.
Not with common sense.
No. The cops’ loyalty lies with the politicians who pass the laws.
Cops serve as an enforcement arm for the political class.
Now let’s juxtapose this story with a talking point I see people throwing around the Internet.
If you don’t like your interaction with the police, how about not breaking the law.”
So, by this reasoning, cops would be justified in tackling, choking, tazing, manhandling and maybe even shooting these little girls, because, after all, they were breaking the law.
Never forget – the government backs up every law, statute and regulation with the implicit threat of force.
Quite frankly, I find the pervasive notion that we owe unthinking, absolute submission to authority creepy.
Not only that, it’s dangerous.
A lot of the people glibly yammering about “following the law” call themselves “conservatives.” They claim they hate big government. I wonder how many of them would willingly hand over their guns if the armed agents of the state they so revere came to enforce a gun ban.
I bet most of them.
They’re conditioned to submit.
So, exactly how many degrees of separation exist between shutting down lemonade stands, enforcing gun bans and marching undesirables onto trains? Perhaps less than you think.
Hyperbole?
Maybe.
But to me, tyranny smells like lemons.
